Sunday, June 12, 2016

Brett at TVNAM

Yesterday I took Brett along to the TVNAM show at Armitage for my first ever exhibition. Brett was never designed for taking on the road, but my preparation paid off, in as much as it stood at a reasonable height, worked all day and didn't need any tweaking.

Set up and ready to go

Very tiring, but I knew that it would be, as it is a long day on your feet, but well worth it. Great to meet up with friends, meet new people and put some faces to names.

The frame, complete with splayed Freemo legs. Sturdier than it looked!

I was well aware that Brett isn't up to the standard of modelling seen on other layouts, but everyone that stopped and watched was very kind. It was great to hear that quite a few people were already familiar with the layout via forums, this blog or Youtube. In fact, at least two people said that they had been influenced and built layouts with similar trackplans!

My neighbour for the day, Dave Long's Agawam

Millers Crossing

Jez New's layout 'New Field'

I had a couple of invites to other shows.. but to be truthful I'm not sure if exhibiting is something I'd want to get into 'properly' .. as interesting as it was, I think for me the social and interactive aspect of Freemo ticks a few more boxes. But I'm not ruling it out..maybe something little and new for Nottingham next year.. hmm...

Steve is a TVNAM regular - her with Duncan's Mine

Andy talks 3D printing

Anyway, I didn't get to take many pictures sadly, but there a number of great layouts on show again - most were fairly compact when I think about it. For some reason, I didn't take any pictures of the smart Tilley Yard, or the impressive Fort Myers, perhaps the biggest layout on the day. I'll try to rectify that in September at the next big Freemo meet.

Chris Gilberts Florida fleet play on Easter Park

TVNAM is also a bit of a shopping trip usually - loads of great priced stock available, mostly from Anoraks Anonymous. I resisted any new locos and picked up a few more covered hoppers.Now home I've been looking at my locos, thinking I really need to re-organise. I have a plan. No idea if it will work, but essentially I want to bring some focus to my tiny fleet.More if it works..